Monday, December 29, 2014

I love the Green Bay Packers and so does my daughter Jordana who lives in Green Bay and my hairdresser friend Sherrie. I designed these wall hangings and constructed them while I was on my quilt retreat the weekend before Thanksgiving. I gave the wall hangings to Jordana and Sherrie as Christmas gifts. I wanted a cheese head on the female motif's head and had to Google it to get an accurate image of it. I used one fabric and fabric paint and markers to get the highlights and lowlights of the cheese holes.I had the green and gold fabrics from the 2013 Wisconsin Shop Hop from Andover Fabrics and thought it would have the Packer colors without the obvious Packer fabrics. I chose the jersey number of Aaron Rogers because he is the quarterback. I designed two different hairstyles but everything else is the same.I am considering a quilt pattern that would be interchangeable for all the NFL football teams. I understand the cheese head is only for the Packers so I have to figure out what women football fans would wear on their heads especially in the warm climates. I went to www.nfl.com to their pro shop and have a few ideas such as knit hats or a headband.I did a raw edged fused applique technique and embellished with fabric paint, glitter, nail polish and rhinestones.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

While teaching my Bella pattern class in October I had a student who did a different color scheme than I had explored. I have made 6-7 Bella quilts either using a one color (monochromatic) or a multicolor color scheme. I have another pattern and class I teach called "Fifteen Shades of Gray" which is the third photo in this blog. It has 15 very light to medium values of gray with three bright coordinating batiks as the applique colors for a different portrait quilt project. The student selected 24-25 gray squares and one color (blue) for the applique. This gave me the idea to combine the gray values from the Fifteen Shades of Gray pattern with the Bella pattern but instead of only one color applique I did a multicolor/color wheel color scheme. I chose warm colors (reds, oranges and yellows) for the hair and cool colors (blues, greens, turquoise and purples) for the facial features. I chose one white tone-on-tone fabric and 24 values of gray in this project. I placed the lightest values near the face and faded to darker values away from the face. I did separate the chin/neck/lower hair pattern into two sections because I wanted both blue violet and purple. My favorite color is pink so I put both magenta and pink in the hair applique. I added a gold for a small hair strand and would not do that again but use yellow orange instead like I used in the small curls in the lower part of the hair. I thought the YO was prettier than the gold.

The construction of the quilt is the same as the other Bella quilts. I changed the thread color for each coordinating piece of applique and used the same thread color to add quilting to the areas near the applique piece. I quilted the gray background/face/neck with a light gray thread.

I embellished with a blue nail polish on the open area of the mouth-turquoise glitter was added to the eyelid area. I glued a few rhinestones in the left sided background area. I auditioned hair flowers and beads for a necklace as I did in some of the other Bella quilts but it looked tacky and busy. I repeated the multicolor in the cute striped binding fabric.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

This quilt was made for my Facebook group Art Quilts Around The Qorld. This two month challenge was called "Flight of Fancy" and I was inspired by the various birds that flock to the birdfeeder outside of my sewing studio window. I particularly love cardinals because of their color and striking color contrast to the winter snow.

I couldn't resist making this a portrait quilt as well as fitting this challenge into another challenge I needed to have completed by December 8, 2014. That challenge was an embellishment challenge for my local quilt guild Northwoods Quilters. This challenge required a button, which was given to all participants, a fabric yo-yo and any other embellishment we wanted to use. I am not a yo-yo type of person but it was a challenge so I went for it!!

I chose to keep the portrait part of the project in a monochromatic blue to represent the cold weather and blue is a color that recedes into the background. The red cardinal then becomes the focal point because red is a stand out color.

The yo-yo was created from a piece of awesome hand dyed velvet which indirectly became the girl's hat "flower" with a button for the flower center. The button I was assigned was a unfinished wood button which I painted light blue and glittered which became the girl's coat button, No other embellishments were added to the girl except the white fabric paint reflection in her eye.

The cardinal was raw edged fused appliqued and it still needed some zing so I cut six feathers from a red batik and double fused them together to make three feathers. I stitched down the center and cut ruffly feathers with my shears. I then machine stitched them to the cardinal along the same stitching line with the same thread color. After the feathers were stitched down I fluffed them up to get them more of a 3D appearance.

The cardinal got a bit of red glitter nail polish on it's body and white fabric paint for the eye. Any more embellishments seemed unnecessary.

The local embellishment challenge will be on display with the other guild member's quilts in January 2015 at Spies Public Library in Menominee, MI. I can't wait to see the results as well as the online results from the original challenge at www.aroundtheworldin20quilts.blogspot.com. Today is the day for the reveal.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

This quilt started as a 12 month block exchange in 2013 at Pine Street Quilts where I work. The fabric was a line of fabric that was digitally printed and I liked the color combination of red orange and turquoise. The line hasn't been a big seller at the shop but I liked it. I sat on it almost a year then decided to add a portrait quilt to the center with the blocks around the outside. I love star blocks and was somewhat disappointed by the blocks I received from the ladies in the block exchange. I ended up with doubles of the same block twice-there are a gadzillion of blocks and I got the same ones! So I pouted a few months then decided to actually make a quilt with the blocks. I used a great batik that tied the colors together as well as added depth to the quilt. By adding the small sashing between the blocks this made the center 25" square.

I used a few of the fabrics in the block exchange and a whole lot of batiks! There are four hair fabrics, two dress fabrics and the cool background fabric. I stitched the hair with a contrasting color which is not my norm. I wanted to have an outline effect. I purchased an attachment to create circles while in Chicago at the IQF14-Chicago show in June and used this for the turquoise background. Subtle but it did a better job than if I had marked it and just stitched it. The attachment was a bit pricey but I feel it was worth it. I have a Viking Sapphire sewing machine.

I embellished the hair with some orange wool that I couched to the front bangs. Then I had this great orange/pink/green cording which I also couched to the hair. Then some orange glitter nail polish.

The eyelids received some blue glitter nail polish and the mouth and eyes had some fabric paint to enhance the look.

The background has a few turquoise rhinestones and the inner corners of the sashing got some peach colored felt flowers with orange rhinestones in the intersections.

That left the earring. I tried shopping for a ready made earring in the right color and size which didn't happen. I ended up finding three separate things (small sequin, bead and large sequins) to make my own earring which I hand stitched to the ear area.

I named this quilt Scarlet because her hair is scarlet color and I like color names. she looks like Jessica Rabbit the cartoon vixen!!

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

I love making Bella quilts from my Bella pattern! I made this one using a Moda Catalina batik charm pack from Pine Street Quilts where I work on Tuesdays. I also selected a very dark brown from the shop as the applique fabric. I used some of the left over charm squares cut in half and sewn end to end as a pieced border.

I quilted a leaf design on each cheek and the chin with variegated thread. I added some grass green glitter to the veins of the leaf on the left cheek to add definition. I embellished with some loose glitter/glue on the eyelid and I also added some glitter nail polish on the mouth.

I presented this quilt to the owner of the quilt shop as a potential quilt kit and she agreed! I will also will be teaching this quilt as a class on Saturday January 10, 2015 and students can create their Bella quilt in any color way whether monochromatic, color wheel or a charm pack version.

I taught this class last Saturday in Green Bay, WI and was impressed with the student's creativity and am inspired my their color choices and want to create more Bella quilts!!

Thursday, October 2, 2014

I have wanted to make a steam punk themed quilt for over a year. I looked at all the different fashions, hairstyles, hats and jewelry at Pinterest. I saw a lot of muted browns, golds, and rusts since it was old fashioned and bright fabric dyes hadn't been invented. Steampunk mixes the Victorian Era fashions and decorations with the Industrial Revolution (gears, keys, flight, trains, bicycles, clocks.) I loved the old fashioned corsets, fancy hats, gears and peacock feathers. I just couldn't start this quilt until the "right" fabrics were in my possession. This summer a local woman called Vicki gave me a nice stash of specialty fabrics and there was a considerable amount of the turquoise, gold bronze and brown plaid lame. The minute I saw it I knew it was the outside border and the color scheme came together. The lame is very crunchy, noisy and has a paper-like feel and is lightweight but does not unravel. I also used lame from Vicki for the corset, hat brim edge and the hat band and ribbon. The other fabrics are commercial batiks and cottons.

The huge peacock plume was a bit difficult to draw out the applique pattern but once it was sewn down I really love the affect.

I used some white fabric paint to get the reflection in the goggles, eye area and the mouth. I have some glitter nail polish on the eyelids and mouth. I was given a box of embellishments from my local quilt guild when I stepped down as program coordinator and there were pieces of vintage jewelry in the box. I reworked a few pieces to create the necklace centerpiece. The bronzy rhinestones were purchased at Joann Fabrics in the bead department and the whole thing appears weathered and worn.

I also found a bag of metal gears at Joann Fabrics which I hand sewed randomly on the quilt. I googled gear clip art and printed a few simple gear motifs using Carol Doak's foundation paper. I sewed over the lines to get the gear design and did some tiny stippling in the gear openings to get a secondary gear design.

Then I always title my quilts and was stumbling a bit with this one. I found a website where you can get a steampunk name based on your own name. I didn't like my converted name but I liked parts of it and I also used parts of my daughter's name version. I used Victoria as the first name because my friend Vicki contributed to the great plaid border fabric and lames and because of the Victorian Era. I combined my mom's maiden name "Locke" with my last name to get "Brigadier Victoria Locke-Ceesay."

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Today is reveal day for my online art quilt group Art Quilts Around the World. The current theme is a monochromatic color scheme. I have done many monochromatic color scheme quilts because I enjoy the process because it involves a study of value. I have a lecture that I teach about value and this style of quilt is way too fun!

I have done pink, red, green, blue, brown, purple and yellow monochromatic quilts so by process of elimination I chose orange as my color for this challenge.

I drew an image of a woman with a 1960s hairstyle and makeup. I went into my stash and pulled all my oranges from pastel to a dark orange brown. I love the woven batik background fabric which calms all the energy of the oranges.

I embellished this quilt by digging around in my embellishment stash and found sequins, beads, glitter/glue, a felt flower with a rhinestone, some velvet on the shirt neckline, glitter nail polish on the lips and another rhinestone for a nose "piercing." I found the large sequin dangly trim and hand sewed it to the bottom of the quilt after the binding was sewn on-it reminds me of a go-go dancer's dress.

I titled the quilt "Carrot, Copper, Cantaloupe"

I have not posted in a while because I am trying to figure out how to add a watermark to my posted photographs. I have found a local woman from my art council who is a photographer and is helping me tomorrow. Once I figure that out I will be sharing my new realistic style quilt about steampunk.

I have been busy in other areas of my live besides quilting. I work in a hair salon and had to find another job and that time of finding a new job took away from my quilting!! Then the last few weeks my 16 year old cat Mia has been sick and went to the vet. Mia decided it was time to go to cat heaven and I put her down on Friday Sept, 26. She was a crazy mischievous cat that ate my sewing thread, raffia, curly ribbon, tinsel, artificial Christmas tree needles and basically any string she could get in her mouth. She had two surgeries and several close calls. After the Christmas tree incident in 2003 I have not had a Christmas tree in my house. So this year I will put up a tree in Mia's memory. She always spent a lot of time in my sewing room and I miss her terribly.

I travel to Houston Texas for the IQF Quilt Show in late October and am beyond excited to teach two 6 hr. portrait quilt classes as well as enjoy myself shopping and viewing the exhibits.

Sunday, August 31, 2014

I am lecturing at the Wisconsin Quilt Expo in Madison, WI this coming Friday Sept. 5, 2014. My lecture is called "I Value That Quilt!" and decided if time permitted I would make a few 4" x 6" fabric postcards as a gift to my volunteer and one for a lucky person attending my lecture. The third postcard is a surprise to someone! I drew up a design loosely based on a small version of my other witch designs. I had left over fabric from my Halloween 2013 Witch Quilt and some Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics left over from The Wicked Challenge a month ago which I used for the green skin. The fabrics are all batiks and I embellished with three colors of nail polish and my signature white dot of paint in the eye area for reflection. I used a variegated Sulky rayon thread for stitching the dress, hat and outside edge-love, love, love this color combination of purple, red, dark blue and lime green!!

This little (12" x12") quilt is my donation for the International Quilt Festival in Houston at the end of October. I am so excited to be teaching there for the first time and the organization asks all teachers to donate a piece to their charitable cause. I picked the dots, stripes, rainbow color scheme, brown hair and glitter nail polish because those are my favorite things and I thought they represented me the best. I hand beaded the earrings and the necklace and used some nail polish on the lips, eyelids and hair, I need to get it to Houston by the third week of September.

I have an "epic" quilt that has been finished but I have to figure out how to add a watermark to the photographs. My techie skills are substandard so I have some educating to do!!

Sunday, August 10, 2014

My local quilt guild, the Northwoods Quilters, has been having quilt challenges. The first one was a crayon (color) challenge and this one is call the "Ugly Fabric Challenge." Anyone who wanted to participate brought to a meeting an "ugly" fat quarter. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and some of the fats were nasty ugly and some were pretty to me! We put all the fat quarters in a container and without looking we selected a fat quarter to make a small quilt, purse, hat etc. We had three months to complete this project and the reveal is at tomorrow's guild meeting! I chose 2 ugly fat quarters and in the first photo the large paisley fabric is kind of ugly! The color is a bit dull to me and the scale of the fabric is large and somewhat hard to work with especially if you are cutting it into small triangles etc. I used it as the dress fabric and then tried to downplay it with an interesting background fabric and the great hand-dyed orange velvet for the woman's hair. I "blinged" it up with some rhinestones, a leather button with some glitter nail polish and some other glitter nail polish for the woman's "make-up." I think the orange hair is now the focal point and the paisley dress is not prominent at all.

This is the second piece I did and I blogged about it in my last post. I sometimes will use a quilt twice for challenges if at all possible. The ugly fabric (the binding fabric) was not ugly to me at all. I love dotted fabric and black and lime green. I was then just making a quilt. I used this fat quarter piece in my Dresden Plate quilt for demonstrating value but it was too big for this challenge. I did this quilt for a online art quilt recycling challenge and it was really about the lames and special occasion fabrics. I love this little quilt that is 11.5" x 16.5" because it is a pop art princess and has a 1960s vibe which I love!

All of the Ugly Challenge Fabric Quilts will be in an exhibit August 26-Sept. 29 in Menominee, MI at Spies Public Library Gallery. This exhibit is free to the public during normal library hours.

I can't wait for the reveal to see how all the guild members interpreted their ugly fat quarter(s!)

Thursday, July 31, 2014

I am in an art quilt group through Facebook called Art Quilts Around the World. Every two months we select a challenge and today is reveal day for the 3 R challenge-Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. go to their blog www.aroundtheworldin20quilts.blogspot.com to see all the challenge quilts plus all the previous challenges.

I have been favored with two local woman who I did not know give me fabric because they heard I would use it for a good cause. The first woman used to own an area bridal shop and was down sizing her special occasion fabric stash. I received velvets, satins, taffetas, lames, laces and chiffon in a variety of colors. I was very happy and overwhelmed by all of this great fabric. The black fabric of the hair in this quilt is from this woman. It is actually on ottoman type fabric which I forgot to mention before. It is a heavier coat weight fabric with a texture design. It was very stinky when the iron was on it! The second woman I met used to live in Las Vegas and told me she made costumes for Vegas shows, drag shows. Disney and circus costumes. She currently does hair and make-up for the Performing Arts Center in Appleton WI-What great stories to share with me! Quite the interesting lady!!It was sparkle paradise for me the day I received all the lames and shiny fabrics! I reused the awesome striped "eyelash" lame as the dress in this quilt.

The background and binding fabrics I have used in two other separate quilts. The small facial feature fabrics are all recycles scraps from my stash.

The quilt was shiny enough from the eyelash lame so I held off on the normal rhinestone embellishments. I did use several nail polishes on the face and a bit of fabric paint. The earring is a combination of a bead, a chain from an old necklace and a shiny thing from a Christmas garland

recycled.

I was going for a 1960s pop art psychedelic woman. I had fun on this quilt and plan to use this quilt locally for a quilt challenge I will blog about in August.

Monday, July 28, 2014

I am a member of the Menominee Area Arts Council which serves Menominee MI and Marinette and Peshtigo WI. Each year on the last Sunday in August there is an art fair for area artists at Henes Park in Menominee. The group decided to purchase 6" x 6' canvases and each willing member could "paint" something on the canvas and at the art fair all pieces will sell for $25. The proceeds will help raise money for local high school art students earn art scholarships for college. I don't paint so I remove the canvas that was stapled onto a wooden frame and made a mini quilt and then wrap it around the wood frame and staple it to the back. Wala!

I have done this several times for an art exhibit in Green Bay WI each February at The Art Garage for fundraisers and it is a lot of fun. Why is it fun?-no bindings and it's small in size to it's easy to construct. Also I use lightweight flannel instead of batting to keep the bulk to a minimum for the framing part of the project.

I used the same pattern I used last winter for the Art Garage but instead of a blond I wanted black hair and my favorite color combination of red and lime green. (www.artgarage.org)

I embellished it with nail polish, fabric paint and some actual make-up blush on the cheeks-very simple. No beading or rhinestones.

The quilt was 10" x10" and I wrapped the design around the wood frame and in the second photo the design is seen from a side view.

The art show is on Sunday August 24, 2014 at Henes Park in Menominee, MI from 10-4. Check it out and buy a mini canvas and support college scholarships for art students!!

Friday, July 25, 2014

I entered this quilt in the Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics Wicked Challenge. It involved the Broadway play Wicked and a fat quarter packet of this company's green hand dyed fabrics. I had not heard of this company before but I was extremely interested since I LOVE witches and I double LOVE green skin!! I ordered the fat quarter packet and received the rules. All entries are sized at 20" x 20" and 60% of the quilt needed to be the 4 green fat quarters and the 40% remainder was some of their many other hand dyed fabrics. I selected more of their fabrics to get the skin tones and I bought a pink gradation to get the lip color and then the binding. This was my challenge to not go into my stash to make this quilt and only use the hand dyed fabrics from Cherrywood. Also I usually use batiks and prints and this was all solid fabrics.

I must admit I have not seen the play Wicked (bucket list!) and I went to Pinterest and started my research on how the lead character, Elphaba the Wicked Witch, was different from other witches and the witches I normally make. Elphaba's dress was very modestly covering her body, it was not totallt black in color, very textured and it was inspired by nature. Her hat was very tall and pointy unlike my normal bent over hat style. I wanted to have black hair but I already used the black for her dress and hat so I went with dark brown and used black variegated thread and black fabric paint/markers to darker the hair even more.

This dress is full of embellishments. The rules said any embellishments were fine so I went crazy! I machine quilted in a bright variegated color, I added a lace trim with black beads to get the textured look. I ruched dark green silk ribbon around the neckline, I ruffled the same ribbon for the high neckline. I found a great black with metallic green edging at the IQF Chicago show and used it on the neck and the corset area. I hand sewed beads to the bodice and lower dress to add more color and texture. I used a black shimmery ribbon with wire and created the shoulder ruffle.

For Elphaba's hat I dotted the hat with a metallic fabric paint in green, added some of the metallic ribbon for the band and a dark green leather button to the band. Her face is embellished with fabric paint, markers and nail polish like I usually do.

The background has a few lime green rhinestones for bling.

I discovered there were famous quotes from the play and I really like this one Elphaba says-"I don't cause a commotion-I am one." I love this quote and used a portion of it in my quilt.

I had the time of my life making this little quilt. The link at the beginning of this blog is Cherrywood's blog post with my quilt as the first entry. I decided to share my quilt after they did. The deadline is August 1, 2014. There will be a gallery exhibit of all the quilts for judging purposes and then 20? quilts will travel to various quilt shows and the Broadway at the Wicked anniversary. I really want my quilt to be selected!!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

I made this quilt as part of my teaching demo at the International Quilt Festival in Chicago in June. It began with a Moda Charm Pack called Soho Chic. The top fabric was the one in the upper right hand corner of the quilt. I fell in love with the chartreuse, eggplant, teal and dark pink. When I started choosing the 25 squares for the quilt I picked all the light ones and really disliked what was happening. Then I realized there were "darks" and :lights" but no "mediums" which was a lesson in VALUE! I usually pick the lights and mediums for the pieced background and use a dark coordinating batik for the applique. I set those light prints aside for the binding and grabbed the rich colored dark squares that I loved from the beginning. But then what do I use for the applique so it is visible? I reversed it and went with a light color to get optimum CONTRAST! I purchased a piece to cream batik and it reminds me of a photo negative. I name my quilt series Bella (good in Italian) ... Negative seemed, well, negative so I tried the word reverse in Italian and it was "inverto" which I switched to the female "inverta" hence the name of the quilt.

This photo shows some of the many trims, beads, baubles and flowers I had auditioned as embellishments for this quilt. These are the rejects. I chose some lime green rhinestones for the background, some hot pink glitter nail polish for the mouth, hot pink loose glitter on the eyelid and instead of my usual white reflection dot on the eye I "reversed" with a dark brownish purple. Then I had some fun jewel tone Christmas garland I took apart and hand sewed the sequins to the outside of the binding for some bling. These large sequins remind me of the winter hats we used to wear in the winter as children! (a baby boomer moment!)

This is one on the original style Bella quilts with a colorful background with black applique. Bella Chroma.

And this quilt called Bella Rosa (pink in Italian.) This monochromatic color scheme is a great way to have a VALUE study.

Monday, June 30, 2014

This is my entry for the 2014 Hoffman Challenge. The fabric is the big floral fabric which I fussy cut and made a hat/headpiece out of as well as the floral fabric applique pieces in the upper left corner and the lower right corner. I was having lunch with my daughter Jordana, who is biracial, last winter, and she was telling me about the stupid things people in Green Bay, WI, where she lives, say to her regarding race. They seem to not be able to "figure" her out, they assume she is a Green Bay Packer wife/girl friend or say stupid things that ignorantly racist. I got upset by this and channeled my energy into this quilt. I tried to match Jordana's skin tone and make a quilt loosely based on her coloring and use the Hoffman /challenge fabric. I call it "Hybrid" not based on the combination of flowers, which is a term used in floral/botany studies, but the combination of races and skin tones. I was very upset and this was a great way to get my anger out!!
I embellished it with a few sequins/beads in the background, rhinestones in the floral areas and a flower bead for an earring.

Part Two: There is a local portrait contest on Facebook called The Witch? Award. I want to win the contest and would appreciate your vote if you are on Facebook. If you go to www.facebook.com/WitchAward and click LIKE on the photo of my quilt that locks in your vote. If you like another piece it cancels my vote-just saying...The voting goes until mid August I think. Thanks for voting!!

This is a close up photo of the face-I added a bit of actual blush to the cheekbones to make it look more realistic. The Hoffman Challenge will notify all entrants in August if their piece made the cut, and if so, the pieces will travel across the country to various quilt venues.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

I have been a SAQA member for a few years and they do an art quilt auction beginning in September of each year to raise funds. They ask any of the members to donate an original art quilt piece 12" x12" and I created this piece I call "Human Harmony."

The deadline was extended from June 1st to June 15th and that gave me enough time to make something for the auction.

I started with the red batik with purple and gray gears. I felt like working with darker skin tones and blonde hair-as interesting combo but if it's good enough for RuPaul it's good enough for me!! I added the word harmony because I was being social/political in my mind while I was creating this and it spoke to be about human/racial harmony.

I embellished with two different yellow nail polishes for in the hair, one polish on the lips and another purple nail polish on the eyelids. I added rhinestones to simulate actual jewelry and a bit of white fabric paint on the eyes.

I'm glad they expended the deadline so I could commit to the SAQA auction project!

Friday, June 6, 2014

Happy dance! I made this quilt specifically for the International Quilt Festival in Portland Oregon this August for a contest called Coming Up Roses. This show will have quilting, knitting and stitching for this exhibit. www.quilts.com for more show details.

I began with the idea of a Day of the Dead style makeup and LOTS of red roses in the hair. I explored on Pinterest different types of Day of the Dead makeup. Lots were scary and sinister-I chose hearts and flowers. The nose looks like a spade from a deck of cards. I showed this quilt last month to a group of Grade 1-5 elementary students and one girl thought the nose looked like a chocolate chip. What a creative mind and I like that idea better.

The eyes had five colors of different fabric plus white painted dots, red painted dots and the "usual" eyeliner, whites of the eye, iris, pupil etc. I did the whole face, neck, hair and clothes then concentrated on the roses because this was the purpose of the contest.

I googled clip art of roses and selected one I liked and make a mirror image of the rose as well. I cut out a bunch of roses from red batik and arranged them in a pleasing asymmetrical manner. I used a darker fabric marker to get the depth as well as stitching with a darker thread and then I used fabric paint in a lighter red to get the highlighted areas. It was all a concept of value which is my new favorite subject!!

I embellished three different sizes of pre-made red roses on the roses, hair and background, red glitter nail polish in the hair, a few grayish sequins to bling out the background.

I named this quilt "Rosita" thanks to my friend Patty N. for the idea. I wanted a Mexican name that had rose in it and that's how it happened!!

Saturday, May 31, 2014

I am in a Facebook art quilt group called Art Quilts Around the World and their blog is www.aroundtheworldin20quilts.blogspot.com. There are 22 members from around the world and we have a challenge every two months. The reveal day in today, May 31st, for the Bollywood Challenge.

I was intending to do a Bollywood quilt down the road and purchased the fabric on the left side of the quilt from www.equilter.com. Bollywood to me means lots of bling and flashy embellishments so I went crazy!! I hit my jewelry stash and selected the huge over heavy dangly earring for the forehead. I had some leftover gold trim from my 2013 Hoffman Challenge quilt and added two to the quilt plus some gold rick rack to add to the bling. I used several decorative threads with gold thread to create the image of a sari. I added plenty of gold beads and colored rhinestones to the head scarf. I took two old earrings and the chain from an old rabbits foot with some gold glitter nail polish to create the woman's earring/nose jewelry. I added a bit of glitter nail polish to the hair also.

Here is a detail photo of the face. I enjoyed the entire process of making this small (11.5" x 16.5") quilt.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

I discovered this awesome book on the internet because the quilt on the cover fed my obsession with color wheels! The book is a great resource for color schemes and exercises in how to use different color schemes and the color wheel for quilt blocks.

The pattern directions for this book cover quilt uses a 22.5 wedge ruler and the 12 basic colors on the color wheel. Within the 12 colors you select 8 values from very pastel to the darkest shade totaling 72 6 1/2" x 1/12" strips sewn together to make 12 strip sections.

I have photographed the book instructions to show how the wedges are cut. Add a piece of white to create a Dresden top to each wedge.

I though I followed the instructions and I ended up with only 3/4 of a circle. I started doing the math. A circle is 360 degrees divided by 12 wedges = 30 degrees not 22.5 as in the ruler width the book suggested. I reread the directions, got advice from my online quilting group and even emailed the book publisher who never got back to me. So I didn't want to scrap the idea so I make four more wedges to complete the circle and I was happy with the quilt and could finish it! My intentions for this quilt is to use it as a visual tool for my color and value classes.

When originally selecting the turquoises I was leaving out the teals, and when I was picking out red violets I was missing out on the warm pinks and when I was choosing the lime greens I was not getting any of the great chartreuses so this was an easy task. I then added the fourth wedge with golds.

I am happy with the quilt but will not do this again and art is more fun than busting my brain on this math and geometry stuff!!

Monday, May 12, 2014

I had the opportunity to do a lecture and my Intro to Portraits Quilts class based on my first quilt pattern last week at the Little Traverse Bay Quilt Guild in the Petoskey and Charlevoix MI area. I had several ladies in my class and got photos of most of the projects-one person had to leave early and another person had an arm injury and couldn't sew on her machine. The women were very fun, creative and well organized. These are the great examples of the class projects.

Great pink hair!

Redhead doing a redhead quilt!

Self portrait with a wild background!

This project may become a pillow!

Love the color combinations and the fuchsia hair!

Awesome warm colors and bold outer border fabric!!

Great use of primary colors and fun glasses!

And this last photo is an example of my quilt that I demoed on Quilting Arts TV Season 13 Episode 1303. If you go to www.quiltingdaily.com all of us artists have our work available for download. Laurel downloaded my pattern and brought it to class to show be-I'm impressed.

This awesome quilt guild treated me like a queen! I had a great experience and have lots of memories! I was able to visit the local quilt shop called Hearts to Holly in Charlevoix, I traveled to Lower Michigan for the first time and I crosses the Mackinac Bridge for the first time also! The bridge was a rush!!

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About Me

I am a contemporary quilter who specializes in portrait quilts. I am a hairdresser and am fascinated with hairstyles, make up, replicating the human form in fiber, retro fashion/prints, flowers and fairies. I usually work with bright colors, batiks and large scale prints. I love to embellish my quilts with rhinestones, beads, baubles, yarn, paint and crayons.